ME!! It’s brought to you by me.

As an aspiring writer (!), I try to read as much as possible, I’ve always got a book on the go, and I read online articles, normally running related. I also delve into others’ blogs as often as I can. Reading others work, and seeing which styles I enjoy, helps steer my own scribblings. Don’t forget the OTHER BLOG for occasional, mostly non-running related, witterings.

I have noticed that some of the ‘bigger’ blogs tend to have a leaning towards product ‘reviews’. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not taking some sort of reverse snobbery based moral high ground here. Oh no, although I always look for truly independent journalism , or writing in general, I would probably struggle to turn down a supply of free running kit if it was thrown my way. And then what would I do????

Anyway, luckily for me and my blogging integrity, that’s highly unlikely to happen. So if I do mention a product, company, event or any other service, then my opinion will be based purely on the experience I have had.

Which brings me to running shoes. I’ve just opened a box of shiny new road kicks, the umpteenth pair of Adidas Boost shoes I’ve owned. I find them soooo comfy, cushioning my clumpy and heavy running stride and compensating for the odd angles my feet tend to approach the ground at.

I may have mentioned before, my running ‘style’ was once described by an esteemed running coach to be like a drunk man herding cats!!

 

This latest pair are a few models old now, so I picked them up for a reasonable price too. Being rather dull, I keep a count of miles ran in my shoes and my last pair did 600+ miles of road running. The PREVIOUS pair (pictured alongside the new ones) also racked up  100s of road miles before becoming my work shoes. I’ve probably done 6 months of building work in them too, only swapping them for boots on heavy weather days.

So, if anyone asked me, even without a cash incentive from the multi-national fashion and sports wear brand, I would recommend them, especially if you have the same bizarre running geometry as me.

I used to use Adidas trail shoes too, but found said running technique tended to trash them too quickly. Some of you may recall I had the chance to run in a second hand pair of Inov8 shoes at the Conistion Marathon (read all about that beautiful event HERE). I splashed the credit card there and then and those shoes have been absolutely amazing, and still going strong after 500+ miles of all types terrain and weather.

 

I wore them for a lumpy coast path run on Saturday, keeping it simple, with an out and back route, but the views are always different in the other direction. The sun was barely awake at the start and it turned into a lovely crisp morning by the end. Have a nosey HERE, if you like.

Ahhhh, my wonderful wife……. I truly am INSPIRED by her…… we are both pretty exhausted at the moment and it would be easy to reject our runs and training. Hopefully, the cajoling is reciprocal. I am so, so determined to train, especially when I have the absolute joy of Nicky to be driven by.

On Sunday, we ventured a bit further along the coast, both feeling lethargic, but, together, convincing each other we were doing the right thing.

Running with Nicky is incredible, time becomes meaningless, and before we knew it we were 10 miles in, and ready to turn. We fancied a fairly flat 20 miler as our next planned marathon is on an out and back and flattish road course. We’re off on our holidays next week, and running a marathon on the middle weekend.

I enjoy running with Nicky so much. I ALWAYS enjoy running, but the runs with Nicky have that little extra magic….

In fact, whilst we were trotting along the Exe estuary, I started a ‘best of 2017’ conversation, in preparation for an end of year blog. I said my proudest achievement was when Nicky and I crossed the line of the 50k R.A.T. (read all about it HERE), where we smashed our best time for the event, in our third attempt at the route. Apparently there’s a 100k version….

 

 

She was surprised that I hadn’t said my Gower 50 Ultra, which I completed solo (blogged about HERE). I pointed out to her that, even if I successfully go on to complete longer and tougher challenges, and I will take great pride in them, that little bit of heart fluttering magic will be missing.

 

We will line up at 5.15am on December 2nd, for our holiday marathon, hopefully crossing the line holding hands a few hours later, and THAT will be the secret magic….

Anyway, we had a gorgeous (mostly flat) run on Sunday – check it out HERE – and we’re ready for a break now…….

I think it’s called ‘tapering’!

There’ll be blogging from holiday, but it’ll be short posts from the phone I guess, but mostly we’re looking forward to no alarms, warm breeze and seas, good food, the BEST company and, of course, a marathon!

A few piccies from last weekend’s runs….